Vinegar by the Bed

I seriously burned my left thumb the other night and read that Apple Cider Vinegar helps bring down the inflammation and fight infection in blisters.

So, I was soaking my thumb in ACV when Jake called out from bed (a usual custom), "Mo-o-o-o-m, I'm scared."

After adjusting the lighting and finding his fuzzy blanket handmade by Grandma C, he smelled the vinegar on my thumb. "I want some apple cider vinegar water, right here," pointing to his chest of drawers.

Love how my boys love drinking the healthful ACV and water mix. :)

"Mom, I wish there were a fan in my play room," says the 4.5 year old.

"Ya, that would be nice," I reply.

"So I can fart and it will blow away."

As usual, I'm blown away.

Lentil soup in da house

Yes, it's been a while since I've updated... it's not because I lost my opinion or my appetite. Just like everyone else, we've been super busy!

Just tonight I came across a recipe for Lentil Soup on Babble.com. Now that I have the amazing VitaMix, soups are a sinch! (I'm not the only one who has blown the top off a blender before, right?!)

The lentil soup recipe was killer! It tasted fantastic even though my 4 year old said "it looks like dog poop." He still ate it and the 1 year old thought it was fantastic! Next time, I'll add some more fluid because it was rather thick.

This is his second serving! The thickness helped him feed himself.

So delicious, filling and healthy!

Movies in my eyelids

Around 1:30 in the morning, Jake came stumbling into our room. This was a very uncommon occurrence so I allowed him to snuggle into bed with hubby and me. About 10 minutes passed when I realized I was not going to fall back to sleep sandwiched between two sleepy heads on our queen size bed.

I gently picked Jake up to return him to his bed when he said, "There are movies in my eyelids."

"Aw, sweetie, those are dreams!" My son had his first dream last night. He may not remember what it was about, but I'll remember the night for a lifetime.

Food, Family Politics: they definitely go together!

I started cooking more and more after getting married 8 years ago. Our dinners went from baked chicken & broccoli in 2003 to Aaloo Palak in 2011.

I gave up meat (have a weakness for fall off the bone ribs & bacon, though) at the same time my oldest son Jake was old enough to try it. I always had an aversion to raw meat, gristle and any type of "pink" in my steak, so I had been experimenting with vegetarian dishes for years. That summer, my neighbor lent me the book Skinny Bitch. All that I had tried to ignore my entire life about our food was screaming at me from those pages. So, I gave up meat, except for those special times like eating King's BBQ in Lake County this past week end. Going meat-free in our house was a major turning point in the kitchen.

Almost on a daily basis, I look up recipes online to try something new with whatever's in the house. Last night it was an Indian dish of spinach, potatoes, tomatoes & spices called Aaloo Palak.

The food issue in America was brought to the forefront when we visited the Kennesaw Farmer's Market on Tuesday. I've been to road side stands and to other farmer's markets, but I was blown away by this one. While it was intimate, it was plentiful! I bought hydroponic organic

lettuce for $2 a head, a big bunch of freshly picked spinach for $2, tomatoes & hot peppers for $2, long beans for $2 (going to make tonight! What the heck is a long bean?!), homemade Thai dressing for $5, a basket of freshly picked okra for $2, Georgia peaches for $4 and a basket of freshly tilled sweet potatoes for another $2. A week's worth of FRESH produce for $21 + amazing dressing for a vegetarian family!

Whoah, those are some looong beans!

I'm still on cloud 9! I can barely get over the fact that I've been buying grocery store lettuce and spinach, possibly in a bag, for half my life. And fruits & veggies picked early so they look better in the store. For what? The convenience? What's so convenient about going to the grocery store and paying twice as much for week old, bland, vitamin depleted produce?

You may be thinking "is this chick really just learning about farmer's markets"? Well, no! I've known about farmer's markets for ever, but discovering a good one is the key. While living in Ponce Inlet, the closest weekly Farmer's Market on City Island featured resellers. These folks bought old produce from the grocery stores and then resold it at the farmer's market! yuck! And still others resold things like sunscreen or pallets of water. Yes, some Saturdays, we could score amazing produce, and the local honey was fabulous, but the entire event was spotty.

Long story short, I'll be posting my kitchen creations and food revelations on Kristina's Conscience going forward.

Food, Family Politics: they definitely go together!

bedtime kisses

“I want another kiss...”

I bend down, he grabs my face and smacks one on the lips. Then he turns my head and says, “and on your eye.” I turn my head (this is an almost every night ritual - no order in the body parts, just random kisses) and he says, “open!” in the most innocent voice.

“No, buddy, you can’t kiss my eyeball!”

I laugh; he laughs. We hug and now it’s time to sleep.